Home Gaming Does Hearthstone’s expansion cost too much?

Does Hearthstone’s expansion cost too much?

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nax

I do not play Hearthstone. There’s a very simple, good reason for that; it’s digital crack, and I actually have a family to care for and a job to do. If I did play Hearthsone, I’d have to do it from an unemployment line. The very free, and by all accounts very awesome card battler is getting an expansion soon by way of Curse of Naxxramas… and its pricing model is getting up some people’s noses.

Yesterday, Blizzard detailed exactly how the expansion is going to work, and how users will be expected to cough up for the content.

Blizzard will be releasing one wing of the new adventure each week – and as is typical for a crack dealer, they’ll be offering the first hit for free for the month after release. Each successive wing of the expansion will cost players 700 of their hard-earned in-game gold. For a decent player, that’s about a week and bit’s worth of grinding.

Of course, because it is a free to play game and Blizzard is in the business of making money, they’re giving players the option of just buying the new content outright, using real-world money. Each wing will cost $6.99, 5.99 EUR, or 4.99 GBP; a sum that some feel is too much for slices of a campaign that eventually totals to just 30 new cards earned from the whole thing, discounting the fact that it offers a wealth of single player content, plus a guaranteed Legendary card from defeating each wing’s boss.

From my perspective, this seems like a pretty good way to monetise the game; you can either pay outright, or spend a bunch of time playing the game to earn your way to the next wing – but not everyone feels that way.

What do you think? Is this the right balance for F2P, or is Blizzard being a little cheeky?

Last Updated: July 9, 2014

39 Comments

  1. MakeItLegal

    July 9, 2014 at 13:07

    I think it’s fair , one new wing a month or week , that takes about a week to earn ? That seems fair , I have like 250 odd gold , good thing I ve “tried to save ” either way hearthstone needs some oomph it’s starting to get stale out there

    Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    July 9, 2014 at 13:17

    Seems a bit pricey overall for what you’re getting, but then again the base is free.

    Reply

  3. Admiral Chief Fairburne

    July 9, 2014 at 13:19

    How quick does one get this 700 gold?

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      July 9, 2014 at 13:22

      “For a decent player, that’s about a week and bit’s worth of grinding”

      Reply

      • Aries

        July 9, 2014 at 13:30

        lol, i play and it took me about 5hrs to get 400gold, it not that hard but can get so if you not winning, but no way am i paying for 30 new cards

        Reply

        • pokamunkee

          July 9, 2014 at 14:14

          i’d genuinely like to know how you are able to earn 400g in 5hrs. its
          10g for 3wins and if i calculate that by 10mins per game and i win every
          game i play, i still only reach 100g in 5hrs. even if i am lucky and
          get a 100g quest every day, that’s still only 200g.

          Reply

          • Gavin Mannion

            July 9, 2014 at 14:17

            well wait three days, stack the quests and then hit them all at once

          • iPixelPierre

            July 9, 2014 at 14:24

            This (edit – whereTF is my avatar?)

          • Aries

            July 9, 2014 at 14:35

            thats what i meant, dont count the hours i dont play, and the rounds go quick

        • pokamunkee

          July 9, 2014 at 14:45

          ok that i know. was just hoping there was a faster way. basically its still the usual week grind then

          Reply

    • noxville

      July 9, 2014 at 13:35

      Each daily quest is ~60 gold on average, and you probably earn another 20-30 gold doing each quest (10 gold for each 3 wins). If you’re efficient in stacking up 3 quests at a time before doing it, perhaps a bit less in the bonus gold.

      It’s a free game, if you don’t want to play the single player part, then don’t.

      Reply

  4. Hammersteyn

    July 9, 2014 at 13:23

    As with PS2 you can grind or buy station cash. The option is there but any player worth his salt will tell you it’s better to grind it out

    Reply

  5. Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

    July 9, 2014 at 13:32

    After some careful thought on my original rant on this topic this morning I have come to the conclusion that the paying for in-game cash is fine but for those who don’t have the time to grind the game for gold (such as myself) expecting to pay $7 per wing (or even the discounted $24.99 for all of them at once) is a bit much considering how much one actually gets. I do not believe that R260 odd is fair for the small amount of content.

    The content is after all only:
    15Bosses
    30 New cards

    Am I missing something here? Yeah I know the bosses will have dialogue etc and make it a little more story like, but I just don’t think $25 is justified

    Reply

    • DarkWave

      July 9, 2014 at 14:20

      guaranteed cards not duplicates.

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        July 9, 2014 at 14:29

        Yep. Wouldn’t have thought it would be duplicates. The point is it’s still only 30 cards.

        Reply

        • pascal133

          July 10, 2014 at 23:09

          The 30 cards include alot of rares and some legendaries

          Reply

    • loftie

      July 9, 2014 at 14:30

      Well, 20euro for a single flying mount for WoW in the blizzard store might put it in perspective, but yes, I do agree it is a bit much. The WoW mount price is just plain ridiculous.

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        July 9, 2014 at 14:50

        Sheesh. That’s daylight robbery 0_0

        Reply

  6. Wyzak

    July 9, 2014 at 13:36

    Is that 700 gold per attempt, or does it stay unlocked once you’ve paid your dues?

    Reply

    • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

      July 9, 2014 at 13:36

      If it was per attempt I’d seriously throw my toys out the cot. I highly doubt it’s per attempt though

      Reply

      • Wyzak

        July 9, 2014 at 14:52

        Yeah that would suck 😛

        Reply

    • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

      July 9, 2014 at 13:40

      No; once you buy it with in game gold, it functions exactly the same as buying it for cash.

      Reply

      • Wyzak

        July 9, 2014 at 14:52

        Ah excellent, not so bad then. I foresaw this and I have 700 gold stockpiled atm 😛

        Reply

  7. Sageville

    July 9, 2014 at 13:51

    They have the balance perfect in my opinion. They really know how to dangle that carrot at just the right angle…..

    Reply

  8. geelslang

    July 9, 2014 at 14:13

    This is turning out to be the most expensive game I have ever played.

    Reply

    • loftie

      July 9, 2014 at 14:33

      haha, you have to resist the urge.

      Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      July 9, 2014 at 14:40

      I enchanted a lot of my blue and white cards and bought myself another legendary card. So now I have two of them!! I am almost at a point where I can win 70% of the games I play!!

      Reply

  9. Gavin Mannion

    July 9, 2014 at 14:13

    I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. they offer a minimum daily challenge worth 60 gold and these challenges can stack so you can complete a few at a time.

    A solid player should easily be able to win 5 games as a Mage in one day for 60 Gold so to get get 700 is around 12 days if you don’t do any arena runs.

    Yes if you want to buy all the things then it adds up but at the same time you are attempting to pay to win so it should hurt somewhat.

    Reply

    • Sk3tz0

      July 9, 2014 at 14:49

      plus u get GOLD for a Win Streak. U get gold in Arena..

      Reply

  10. DarkWave

    July 9, 2014 at 14:18

    Its hardly a grind, just by doing my quests over the last 2 weeks I’ve made 1400 gold which doesnt take long at all. First wings free and then other wings are released in stages plenty time and minimal effort to make that in-game gold. One of the best freemium models I’ve ever experienced.

    Reply

  11. loftie

    July 9, 2014 at 14:27

    nope, I saved up enough gold to buy all the wings the day it launches. #neverspentacentonhearthstone

    Reply

  12. Jonah Cash

    July 9, 2014 at 14:37

    The getting a legendary card is the only thing that will piss me off!! I have been playing since it came out on iPad, and only got my first legendary card 2 weeks ago!!!!!!

    Reply

  13. HisDivineOrder

    July 9, 2014 at 14:42

    Bobby Kotick continues to change Blizzard in “new” and “interesting” ways. Slowly, but surely the old guard are leaving Blizzard. Guess we now know why Pardo left Blizzard. I suspect he couldn’t take the insane monetization that Blizzard routinely fleeces their customers with. Can’t say I blame him. His sideways jab about once knowing the entire team behind Starcraft also contributed, I’m sure.

    Can’t wait to see ol’ Kotick get to work on Bungie next. I remember back when Blizzard was one of the greats, a studio beyond reproach that advanced gaming with simple, crazy fun mechanics at a semi-reasonable price.

    Alas, no more.

    Reply

    • Johan du Preez

      July 9, 2014 at 18:14

      I agree 100% ! one of my all time favourite studios ended up in a pile of crap. Its a pitty I use to love Bioware and Blizzard games but they are a pale rotting corpse compared to the 90s’.

      At least we still have CD Project Red and Robert Space Industries that’s really passionate about gamers.

      Reply

  14. Sk3tz0

    July 9, 2014 at 14:48

    fact that i can use in game gold to purchase a wing, makes it AOK! gives me a purpose in my meaningless life 😛

    Reply

  15. Sk3tz0

    July 9, 2014 at 14:52

    This is by far best Form of Free 2 Play i ever did see.. just win Blizzard make their WOW subs payable in in game gold aswell 😛

    Reply

    • Johan du Preez

      July 9, 2014 at 18:10

      Been used since 2003 in eve online. You can pay your full subscription with in game money.

      Reply

  16. Ross Woofels Mason

    July 9, 2014 at 15:34

    Fair price imo.

    I get a lot of game time of this game, get the first wing for free already then it 250 bucks for the other four wings?

    Yea happy with that.

    Reply

  17. Johan du Preez

    July 9, 2014 at 18:10

    In other news Magic 2015 gets released next week for $9.99.

    Reply

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